Shadow Slave: Back in time

The radiant sun shone mercilessly upon the streets of the Dark City.

There, a pale man with dark hair and a black-greyish armour was hiding behind a wall. Next to him was tall brown-haired man of athletic build a beautiful woman, whose grey hair reflected the sun's rays.

It was only the day after the Legacy of the Han Li clan had accepted Changing Star's offer, and they were already on their first hunt. They planned to pit some Fallen Monsters against some stone human-like Nightmare Creature. Caster had vehemently expressed his disagreement, but Changing Star's decision could not be changed. In the end, he was forced to reluctantly follow Sunless' lead, the madman who had chosen their targets. From what he'd been able to gather, they needed to demonstrate their strength to the other Sleeper Nephis wanted to join their cohort. Who would be crazy enough to reject her, a bearer of a True Name? Caster didn't understand it. Possessing a True Name, as a Sleeper nonetheless, was a testament of strength in and of itself.

The plan consisted of Sunless baiting the abominations with his shadow – apparently, he could use it as a scout; he mustn't have been so useless in the Labyrinth, then – and lead them to a plaza controlled by the stone warriors. Then, they would swiftly jump in and steal their kills.

Sunny signed to get going: the Fallen had taken the bait, and were now moving after his shadow. Caster could hear the noise of countless of their metallic legs stomping against the ground. They were in a rush, and had alerted many of the creatures in the vicinity. However, none dared to attack the monsters.

---------------

Sunny was full of excitation, anxiety and hope. Excitation, because of the impending battle. The mix of hope and anxiety was due to the type of creature they were fighting: the Stone Saints. Sunny had received Saint, his powerful and reliable Shadow, when he'd stolen the kill from one of the Spider that had attacked their territory. She had managed to win a fight against creatures that were a whole Rank above her one by disregarding her own life and defences. This time, Sunny would be the mastermind behind the fight between them, and the one to reap the benefits.

The spiders were just behind his shadow, and the three Sleepers just behind them. Finally, his shadow entered the plaza owned by Nether's Creatures, the Fallen behind it. The stone warriors stared at the invaders for a moment, assessing their opponents: they dwarfed them in size and strength, their metallic chitin offering a protection difficult to pierce. With a eardrum-shattering shriek, the spiders attacked. They were slightly less than the stone, but a whole Rank above them, and attacked without a second thought.

They were met with silence. The stone knight distributed themselves in groups of one or two, each facing a spider.

The three Sleepers watched with awe from the roof of a half-destroyed building. Sunny had already seen the stone warrior fight, even if he had only witnessed the final part of the conflict: the duel between Saint and the two Fallen, that had ended with no winners. Nephis was familiar with the strength of Sunny's Shadow, so she wasn't as baffled as Caster, who watched the battle with his mouth hanging open.

Although nearly overwhelmed by the sheer strength the spiders possessed, the knights fought with ruthless efficiency, eliminating every superfluous motion. They were masters of war, and striked with murderous killing intent. Sunny had individuated Saint after a moment: she was fighting one of the abomination alone. She hadn't thrown her defences to obtain an overwhelming offence yet, and was trading blow for blow with her opponent.

In the outer edge of the square, two stone knight and a spider were in a stalemate. Sunny had noticed that the other stone warrior weren't at Saint's level, by a rather significant margin, as well, otherwise, the original battle would've ended in their favour. Sunny pointed at them. They were their target. After Nephis' and Caster's nods, they started moving across a roof to another, silently reaching a point where they were just above the three creatures. All of the participants of the battle were battered badly, and had even lost a limb or two. Sunny jumped on the Fallen Spider, embedding his sword in a weak point behind his head. The creature convulsed on the ground as the Spell announced his kill. Sunny turned just in time to see the crumbling stone that remained of Caster's and Nephis' opponent. He extracted the Midnight Shard from the corpse with a smile, ready to repeat the process. And that they did. Of course, they didn't manage to steal every kill, but that was of importance only to Sunny, and partially Nephis, as he needed to get Shadow Fragments and could not absorb the Shards. Eventually only one fight was still taking place: the one between Saint and a Fallen Monster. However, the Spider wasn't the same one she had started the battle with; its mangled corpse was resting some meters away. After slaughtering it, she had moved on to the second, that had been fighting a single stone knight, and had managed to win.

Both the spider and Saint were battered. Saint's stone-like body was covered by the red dust that acted as the equivalent of blood for the children of Nether, flowing from several deep cracks. She was missing an arm, and could only hold her sword. Multiple legs of the Spider were cut, and its metallic abdomen had caved in, but it was still standing, albeit barely.

Saint launched herself at the monster without any warning. The creature raised one of his leg -that was as many as he could without losing balance, and attacked stone knight left side, the one without protection. Instead of retreating or parring the blow, Saint met the attack head on, only turning her body slightly so that the leg wouldn't pin her down. Moving forward, she slashed at one of the creature's leg, that collapsed. Her stone blade was already pointing up, ready to pierce the mouth and skull of the spider as its head fell down, when a whistle cut the air. The Midnight Shard flew through the air and met the eye of the abomination, sinking for half of its length into its head. The Stone Saint turned around, but Sunny was already upon her.

She moved to raise her sword, but it was too late, and too slow. Her body was battered, covered in red dust and run by cracks like she were a web, creation of her previous opponents, she was missing her shield and a limb. She moved with efficiency, but lacked speed. Sunny's sword passed her defences and sank into her abdomen. Her body crumbled like a castle made of poker cards when a light breeze pushed it, as the Spell whispered in Sunny's ears.

[You have slain an Awakened Monster, Stone Saint.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

[You have received an Echo: Stone Saint.]

Sunny breathed a sigh of relief he had realised he was holding. His trusted companion, the one who had accompanied him during most of his adventure, was back.

'Welcome back, Saint.'